Spot what is missing from kate's annual Christmas waffle

Kate McCann: 'I still buy a Christmas present for Madeleine 11 years after she went missing'

                                        Kate McCann Credit: Andrew Crowley

• Kate McCann
  
  

22 December 2017 • 5:17pm

The last Christmas I ever spent with my daughter, Madeleine, is a very vivid memory for me. She was three-years-old then and at nursery had just started to learn some Christmas carols. She also loved doing the accompaniment to Dean Martin’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. I can still hear her singing it now. For her present that year we had bought Madeleine (and her younger brother and sister) a kitchen station which we wrapped with a bow and left for her to find when she came downstairs.
I remember seeing her face when she walked in. She was beside herself. She was so excited and got straight to work preparing us all a meal. That was a lovely moment. I have bought a Christmas present for Madeleine every year since then but that toy cooker was the last one I ever saw her open.
In May 2007 she went missing from our rented family holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal and has never been seen since. This Christmas will be the 11th my husband and I have spent without our daughter. For families like ours who have to live with the agony of a missing child – or indeed any relative – Christmas can be a hugely painful time.

                                  A family photograph of Madeleine McCann Credit: 

The festive period is a time to be together as a family and for most people is such a happy occasion. That almost expected joy makes it even more difficult for those that are suffering. You learn over time that you simply have to make the best of it and lean upon the support that is out there – wherever it comes from.

The first Christmas we had after Madeleine went missing I couldn’t do anything. I felt so numb that I couldn’t buy presents or cards or even put up the Christmas tree. It all felt so wrong. In the end somebody else had to do all that and we went and stayed with family elsewhere. Each year I’ve made a bit more effort and we’ve dealt with it as best we can. After all, our other two children who are now 12-years-old deserve a Christmas as well. That doesn’t mean it isn’t hard. Everything is tinged with pain.

That absence is tangible for all our family, the emotion still palpable. It’s impossible to shake off that heaviness ever-present on your chest. But you just have to try. Before Madeleine’s disappearance I had never heard of the charity, Missing People, which The Daily Telegraph is backing in its Christmas Appeal.  My husband Gerry and I stayed in Portugal for months after she had gone, continuing to search in vain.
It was only when we got back that we were properly put in touch by a relative. The work the charity does for families like ours is vital and I am proud to be an ambassador championing their work. Hundreds of thousands of people go missing every year. This is something that affects so many families and it can destroy them.

                                     Kate and Gerry McCann Credit: Reuters

The charity is there every hour of every day. Without them people would be totally lost. The Missing People charity team are simply very normal, genuine, caring people that you could come and have a cup of tea with. I’m sure that’s part of the secret to the charity’s success. We often talk about our missing persons ‘community’, or ‘family’ and every Christmas get together for our annual carol service at St Martin-in-the-fields united in our emotion and hope.

We are all cushioned and supported by the presence of each other. Unless you have experienced what families like ours have it is impossible to describe the anguish of missing a loved one. I know without the support of so many we would not have made it this far. We have found that support in many places. A candle still burns for our daughter in the village and Madeleine and all missing children still get mentioned in prayers at our local church – and in many others I’m sure.
With so many things in the world to pray for just now, we are very grateful for this. At times the pain of losing our daughter has been almost too much to comprehend. You don’t know how strong you are until you have no option. Gerry and I are united in our aim of finding Madeleine and our love of our children and making life as good as possible for them.

It doesn’t mean there aren’t times when things are emotional, testing or strained. But we’ve got through it so far. In spite of how hard the festive season has been for our family over the years our younger children are still really excited about Christmas and that’s lovely to see. I have to remind myself to be cheerful and get into the Christmas spirit with them. I suppose I have learnt over the years that it’s important to have enjoyment yourself too and, more than that, it is OK to try.

You don’t have to feel guilty.  And if there’s one thing I love, it’s real quality time spent with my children; cuddling up on the couch under a throw and watching a DVD together. We do a Christmas stocking for them and also one for Madeleine. The presents I buy for her usually have to jump out at me. She would be a teenager now so I always try and pick something that would be suitable and enjoyable for her no matter what age she is when she gets to open them.

In my head I guess I just want everything for be right for her when she comes back home. The loft is filled with the presents I have bought for Madeleine and her wardrobe, too. Like many families of missing children we have kept her bedroom exactly the same as it was when she disappeared. The irony is I’m sure she wouldn’t want it like that anymore because it’s bright pink.
And in any case if Madeleine was to walk through that door the most important thing is she is with us, not what her bedroom is like or anything else for that matter. But for whatever reason I just can’t bring myself to change it. The police investigation into Madeleine’s disappearance is still active, thankfully, and while it can be incredibly slow and frustrating we continue in hope. That is all we can do. While people gather with their families this weekend and enjoy meals and swap presents together – I would urge them to remember the missing. We must never forget them.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/family/kate-mccann-still-buy-christmas-present-madeleine-11-years-went/

Then we have their annual Christmas post on their FB page

Official Find Madeleine Campaign

December 25, 2017 ·

To all our supporters,
We just wanted to pass on our love and thanks to everyone who has continued to support us throughout another year. Christmas is a tricky time ....as it is for many people. Friendship, solidarity and warm wishes go a long way in giving us the strength to get through and make the very best of it. So, from all our family...a very big thank you.
We will never give up on Madeleine.

With very good wishes for a happy and peaceful 2018.
~Kate and Gerry

Can you see What or rather WHO is missing?
All that waffle and yet no direct message to her allegedly findable Maddie?

No message to Maddie telling her they love her?

No message to Maddie to reassure her they are still looking for her?

No message to Maddie suggesting ways to make herself known to outsiders?

No message to Maddie on how to get away from her abductor?

No message to the abductor to let Maddie go?

No message to the abductor about not hurting Maddie?

No message to the abductor to give Maddie a happy Christmas?

No message to the abductor about a ransom or reward?

Instead we get a message all about kate and by inclusion gerry and the twins and how they enjoy Christmas etc.

Once again kate opens her mouth and inserts both feet revealing how selfish and self obsessed she is.

It is, was and always will be, all about kate me, me mccann.
Gerry and the twins are mere adornments to make kate look motherly and even then it fails miserably.

Kate's message to the world regarding Maddie is just like her book about Maddie.
Capitalized kate mccann, lowercase Madeleine and a book all about kate with the odd brief mention of the star and reason for the book, Maddie.
Guest starring gerry and the twins with a tiny supporting cast of police who are vilified, journalists, sundry family members and tapas 7.
There is no support for Maddie, nothing emotional nothing physical.
They never searched for her.
They never call out to her.
Heck they don't even call out to her alleged abductor.
It is as if they have given up even the charade of showing any love or interest in Maddie as their daughter.
Even at the start it was almost impossible for them to keep up the facade of care or worry about Maddie and what she could have been enduring, needing to be prompted to use her name and needing scripts to make appeals etc.
Almost 11 years down the line they don't even bother trying to pretend interest.
Their true colors revealed to the world, their contempt for Maddie, such that they don't even try to pretend to show love and concern for their missing daughter at Christmas.


I wonder what 2018 will bring?

Friendships have collapsed, no holidays with their tapas friends.
I wonder if they even speak to each other these days?
Will they decide to start talking since all the mccann's high flying chums appear to have distanced themselves.

Clarrie, who gets dragged out every so often when something sensitive  gets their attention and they use a 3rd party to make their comments, distancing themselves, so should something be revealed as a lie or go bosoms up they can claim plausible deniability and throw him to the dogs.
Could clarrie decide to use what he knows for financial benefit, talking to the Police for a possible reward or selling his story to the media, especially if he stops getting paid?

Will they try and pretend to show some interest in Maddie and call out to her?
Could the twins call out to their sister?

Will anyone call out to the alleged abductor and appeal to him?

Kate's only concern is kate and should an arrest be on the horizon, kate has told us she is willing to press a button so they can ALL be together

Kate said: "It really isn't easy," coping.
"Some days are better than others. ...
There's days when you think, 'I can't do this anymore,' and you just want to press a button, and we're all gone, and it's all finished, and we're all together and gone.
Wherever.
But you can't, you know. Just occasionally you'll have a -- if you're having a really bad day, which we do.
And you can't help but think that."